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WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 23: Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes (R-CA) speaks to reporters after leaving a closed meeting with fellow committee members, on Capitol Hill March 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. ÃNunes has been under fire from committee members for informing President Donald Trump about the U.S. intelligence community's incidental collection of communications involving members of the president's transition group. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

By
Shelby Lin Erdman, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

WASHINGTON
—

The House Intelligence Committee has voted along party lines to release a controversial memo compiled by Republican staffers that is believed to list missteps by the FBI and Justice Department concerning surveillance of a member of the Trump campaign.

The memo claims Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein approved an application to extend federal surveillance of former Trump campaign associate Carter Page shortly after Rosenstein took office, according to the New York Times. The newspaper cites “three people familiar” with the memo.

The Intelligence Committee also voted against releasing a second memo written by the committee’s top Democrat Adam Schiff to counter the Nunes memo.

Schiff said, on CNN right after the vote Monday evening, that the vote was “an effort to distract from the Russia probe.”

Democrats contend the Nunes memo is an attempt at discrediting special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible Trump campaign collusion.